CAPE TOWN, April 24, 2006 (AFP) - With South Africa at the forefront of microbicides testing, the health minister said Monday that women taking part in clinical trials to develop the AIDS-fighting cream need strong protection.
Hundreds of scientists are in Cape Town this week for the Microbicides 2006 conference to discuss the development of the potentially revolutionary gels or creams that release an active ingredient designed to kill HIV during sexual intercourse.
"The invention of an effective microbicide will ensure that the health of women in relation to sexually transmitted infections will no longer depend on their ability to negotiate safer sex and the balance of power in their relationships with men," said Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
But she said that women taking part in clinical trials must be properly informed of the risks and offered insurance against complications, as is the case in developing countries.
"One of the key issues that this conference needs to address is what happens when there are complications from a clinical trial," she told the hundreds of specialists gathered for the four-day conference, many of whom come from the United States and Europe.
"From an ethical point of view, we need to answer, how do we compensate patients who suffer such complications and ensure they have adequate insurance," said Tshabalala-Msimang.
Five out of six microbicide products are in advanced stages of testing in South Africa including nonoxynol 9, known as N9, a product that the minister said raised concerns over clinical testing.
Calling for the ethical treatment of trial participants for potential medicines, the minister noted that in poor communities, "providing financial compensation could prove to be perverse incentives.
"The poor may become desperate to receive these incentives despite the risk," she said. "Therefore, informed consent becomes even more critical in this context."
Scientists hope to have microbicides on the market within the next few years, but have complained of a lack of interest from large pharmaceutical companies in funding their development as the primary markets for the AIDS-fighting product would be in poor countries.
Joy Phumaphi, assistant director-general of the family and community health cluster at the World Health Organisation (WHO), said there "is general global consensus that there has been a slow uptake" on funding microbicides.
"We continue to be concerned about this," she said, adding that the WHO would like to see the pharmaceutical industry becoming more involved in funding as well as the international donor community.
"In order for us to get a result as quickly as possible we do need a substantially increased investment in this particular area," Phumaphi said.
Research into developing a gel that could be used by women to protect themselves against AIDS is drawing much attention, in particular in southern Africa where infection rates among young women are double that of men.
South Africa has one of the world's highest AIDS caseloads, with 5.3 million people, or one in five adults living with HIV or AIDS, according to the UN AIDS agency.
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